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Benson Flores

Memorializing the First Filipino in Canada: A documentary

Team members: Teodoro Alcuitas (Community Capacity Building Program, SFU)

Project Description

While Filipinos form one of the largest non-European ethnic groups in Canada, our history is relatively unknown. Stories of Filipino arrival in this country are practically unwritten and absent in contemporary writing.

The project aims to fill the gap of Filipino history in Canada and raise the profile of the community. We will make a short documentary film to memorialize the first Filipino on record to have settled in Canada in 1861 – Benson Flores. We will interview and film significant players in the accidental discovery of Flores’ settlement in Bowen Island, B.C., and we will document the discovery and search leading to this important part of Filipino history of migration. More significantly, we will memorialize Benson Flores with a tombstone in his burial place in the Vancouver Cemetery where he was buried in an unmarked grave so that present and future generations of Filipinos in Canada will have a permanent link.

Teodoro Alcuitas

Community Partners:

  • Mildred Grace German – Multi-Media Artist
  • Joseph Lopez – Broadcast Journalist
  • Joella Cabalu – Filmmaker

DO YOU HAVE AN IDEA FOR CHANGE?

Up to $30,000* is available to fund SFU students who want to work with community partners to drive meaningful, lasting impact.

Maybe you’re working on an existing idea for a class you’re taking, through a student club or another organization, or maybe you just have an amazing idea that keeps you up at night.... Whatever it is, we want to hear from you!

Start the process now by registering today and then submitting your idea before November 22 – all you need is your passion and an idea. 

* Award amounts subject to change.